Funerals
by Jhaia
Summary: 'Thirty bodies were removed from Air Force One in the aftermath of the crash at Heathrow.' This is the story of what happened to those who died on Air Force One at the end of Eagle Strike. Gen. One-Shot.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Alex Rider, the plot of Eagle Strike, the characters within or Air Force One. I apologise if any information is factually incorrect and will strive to correct it if it is pointed out to me.**

* * *

><p>Thirty bodies were removed from Air Force One in the aftermath of the crash at Heathrow.<p>

Twenty eight of them, the cabin crew and the two soldiers, went first to the US embassy. Later the bodies were flown back to the US and returned to their families. The President and the Prime Minister sent personalised letters of condolence to the families of the twenty eight, expressing their great regret that something like this could have happened at all.

Henryk the pilot was returned to his family in the Netherlands with a polite, but very cold, letter of condolence. Even though the man had helped Damian Cray almost succeed, his actions in crashing the plane had saved people's lives at the cost of his own.

Since Damian Cray's remains consisted of one terribly mangled Boeing 747 engine with extensive fire damage and a large amount of blood spatter over one of Heathrow's runways there was no body to speak of. Of course, with the publication of what the man had done and his plans for Air Force One his memory was tarnished. People rarely spoke of him and radio stations didn't play his records. It became almost taboo to admit to liking his records (and to do so was usually followed by qualifying statements about how much the person didn't like what he'd tried to do). Most of his assets were seized by the government until his will, which left all his money to various charities, passed probate.

However, there remained one body that nobody had any idea what to do with. The body of Yassen Gregorovich. MI6 removed his body for autopsy to confirm that it was the real Yassen Gregorovich, rather than a body double or some other trick. After that was confirmed (three times from different independent sources) they had no idea what to do with the body of the Russian. It could not be released to the family (even if anybody knew whether he had family) and there was no hint of Scorpia wanting to take responsibility for the body. Not that that would be allowed, since MI6 weren't in the business of giving anything to Scorpia – even the body of one of their agents.

It was a surprisingly balmy day in August when the small, anonymous, funeral took place. There had been no service, no minister to read passages that were completely untrue over the body of a person he didn't know (ostensibly this was because nobody knew anything about Gregorovich's religious beliefs, in practice nobody cared) and although a small number of people stood graveside as the coffin was lowered in none of them seemed to be mourning.

Alan Blunt and Tulip Jones stood side by side, looking equally emotionless as the coffin was lowered into the ground. Blunt allowed himself an infinitesimal smile as dirt was piled on to Gregorovich's coffin. The man had been a thorn in the side of every law enforcement agency for the past ten years and now he was dead. Their guards didn't know who was being buried and didn't care, instead focusing on the places a potential assassin could hide (completely oblivious to the irony).

It wasn't until after they had left and the grave had been completely filled in that a boy of about fourteen approached it. The small headstone did not read 'Yassen Gregorovich', in fact it didn't say anything, but the freshly turned earth in front of it was name enough. Staring at the headstone Alex had a sudden urge to write on its blank whiteness, something to say that the man who had saved his life twice lay there, but he didn't. Instead he simply gazed at the grave of a contract assassin who had spared his life, the man who had killed his uncle but loved his father and who had worked for Cray but been shot for refusing to obey orders. After five minutes or so, he turned and left.

Alex Rider was the only visitor the little anonymous grave would ever have.


End file.
